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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFIC CHARLES COLLMAR AND SIMON N. BITTER, OF EASTON, PENNSYLVANIA; SAID BITTER ASSIGNOR TO SAID COLLMAR.

PUZZLE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 591,817, dated October 19, 1897. Application filed December 29, 1896. Serial No. 617,378. or; model.)

the metal ball, which is five-sixteenths of an 50 To aZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that we, CHARLES COLLMAR and SIMON 1. BITTER, citizens of the United States, residing at Easton, in the county of Northampton and State of Pennsylvania,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Puzzles; and we do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, which will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

The object of this invention is to construct a puzzle having a glass-covered inclosing case with a bottom to which are secured, by means of small wire nails which act as pivots, various-shaped swinging pieces of sheet metal, standing on edge and raised from the bottom by washers, a round hole in the upper side or wall of the box, through which is to be introduced a smooth metal ball, by means of which the swinging pieces are to be so manipulated as to allow the passage of the ballbetween certain swinging pieces to the point of exit, which is a round hole in the lower part of the bottom of the box, all as hereinafter more specifically described; audits nature consists of the several parts and combinations of parts hereinafter described, and pointed out in the claims as new. These objects are attained by the mechanism illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 represents a face view of a glass-' covered box with base or bottom to which are secured the various-shaped swinging pieces. Fig. 2 represents a cross-section of the box without the swinging pieces. Fig. 3 represents a front and back view of one of the swinging pieces and itsmanner of attachment to a section of the bottom.

In the drawings, Fig. 1 represents a face view of a glass-covered box with a base or bottom A, of wood, four inches square and onefourth of an inch thick, and sides B O D E, seventh-eighths of an inch high, grooved to allow the insertion of a glass cover, which is to be securely fastened when the puzzle is completed.

At the point F in the bottom of the box is a hole sufficiently large to allow the exit of inch in diameter and which has been introduced into the box through the hole G in the side 0, as shown in Fig. 2.

To the bottom of the box A are fastened, by means of the pivotal nails, and at the specific pointsab c clefghijklmnopqrsdthe various straight, angular, and curved swinging pieces, each piece of the specific shape shown in vertical projection in 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1O 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20, Fig. 1. Each of these swinging pieces is made, preferably, of sheet-aluminium about one-sixteenth of an inch thick and three-sixteenths of an inch wide and of the specific length, angle, and curve shown in 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 1112 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20, Fig. 1. Each of these swinging pieces has a pivot-hole stamped or otherwise fashioned into that point of each piece represented by Ct be d efg h 63' is Z m n 0 p q r s t and of which 1 and 1, Fig. 3, is a representation of both sides of one of the straight swinging pieces, showing the manner in which each piece rests on its washer X, one-sixteenth of an inch thick, and is pivotally fastened to the bottom of the box A by a wire nail a, which allows the pieces to swing easily in various directions in a plane parallel with the bottom of the box; and when these swinging pieces are attached in the manner and at the points designated they form a combina tion of interlocking obstructions to the passage of the metal ball from its point of entrance to its point of exit, which necessitates both study to determine the particular course which the ball must travel, as well as dexterity to manipulate the ball after the proper course is discovered, for the swinging pieces are so arranged at five different parts of the puzzle that a slight inadvertence will send the ball through these interlocking parts out of the regular course and necessitate a new beginning, as the ball cannot be returned through these points of escape. I

It is evident that the form, size, and material of the puzzle-box may be changed, and that a puzzle may be made from fewer or more swinging pieces, such as have been substantially described, and that the length,

shape, and points of attachment of such swinging pieces may be changed Without departing from the spirit of our invention.

What We claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. The combination with an inclosing glasscovered case having a hole in upper side forming the point of entrance for a suitable metal ball; a hole in the bottom of the box forming the point of exit; a suitable ball, twenty swinging pieces of aluminium of specified shapes and pivotally fastened at specified points, the Whole forming an interlocking puzzle substantially as specified.

CHARLES OOLLMAR. SIMON N. BITTER.

Witnesses:

R0131. GRUMER, A. J. ODENWELDER. 

